I love to cook and tend to get obsessed about one recipe or style of cooking at a time. I have been cooking since I was in elementary school - but it's a neverending learning process that I love! Oh, and I don't like to measure things exactly - unless a recipe explicitly calls for it.

My favorite things to cook

Right now I'm learning (& obsessing) on making pies. I'm always looking for anything with easy ingredients and that doesn't take too long. I love soups too!

My favorite family cooking traditions

Local Hawaiian foods - that's saying a lot because in that there are a lot of ethnicities that can either be mixed into one dish or stand alone - Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Puerto Rican, Hawaiian, etc.

My cooking triumphs

I've learned to make Corn Chowder and French Dip through Allrecipes.com!!! Those are 2 of my most favorite foods! I am soooo excited to be able to make them! And, recently I learned to make my favorite local Hawaiian dish to order - Hamburger Steak (w/onions & gravy)! THANK YOU ALLRECIPES!!!

My cooking tragedies

When I was in elementary school, I decided to make a type of bread eaten in history for a history class project. (The recipe, luckily used modern ingredients.) I didn't realize baking soda and baking powder were different. Needless to say the bread came out really salty tasting and funny looking. Another time in middle school I thought I'd make mochi using the directions on the back of the box for yet another class project. It turned out having the consistency of gel, and looked like it too. My classmates had more fun playing with it than eating it.

Followed the recipe exactly though I didn't measure my bananas - used 3 1/2 overripe large bananas. I didn't want to use too much - but realized after eating it that the 1/2 wouldn't have hurt it. I also added chopped WALNUTS to the mix and a sugar/cinnamon/walnut mixture topping. Delicious and moist! Just made this and the whole loaf is almost gone - and there's only 3 people in the house (one of them a 12 yr old boy). I will continue to add a nut topping (maybe not as much sugar as I did this time)..and might experiment with apple sauce instead of oil as well as replacing some of the sugar with brown sugar next time. But this recipe is great just the way it is!

Definitely a keeper. I made the following revisions per the other reviews: sauteed onion w/butter + garlic (powder), added about 1 TBSP of Worsterschire, used a little less mustar (yellow). I also doubled the sauce which was perfect. And, used italian seasoned breadcrumbs. Baked for 10 mins longer than called for - could have gone for 10 more mins..and I let stand for a good 15 mins before serving. There was a pool of oil on the bottom but maybe that helps it keep moist..because it really was! AND it did not crumble at all. Can't wait to try it a a sandwich. Delicious and so easy!

So easy - will use this recipe from now on! Great flavor and holds up well. I didn't have 5 cups of turkey drippings so I kind of eyeballed the ingredients. Coloring is nice too! (Btw - I always use my Tupperware Quick shake container for the flour milk mixture and it helps to gradually add while keeping it blended well.)